86 Riverside Drive - remnant of the Gilded Age for sale
"single-family mansion that's still brimming with most of its original details"
New York's Gilded Age was once marked by fashionable department stores, towering office buildings, and enormous mansions, such as those of the Vanderbilt Family that lined Fifth Avenue on Manhattan's East Side. While many of those mansions were demolished, and a number of the flagship department stores have been sold, remnants of the Gilded Age can be found in unexpected corners of New York City.
Riverside Drive and Riverside Park on Manhattan's Upper West Side were laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted (of Central Park fame!) in the second half of the 19th century. The area was largely undeveloped until the Hudson River Railroad was constructed in 1846. Subsequently, the construction of both Riverside Park and Riverside Drive made the area fashionable for residents, and numerous well-to-do homes were constructed along the drive and overlooking the new park.
During the 20th century, numerous homes were replaced by large apartment buildings, many of which still stand today. However, one notable property - at 86 Riverside Drive - still stands with much of its historical detailing intact. The Carroll Mansion was constructed in 1898 and remarkably remains a single-family residence today. While it looks a little worse-for-wear on the exterior, the historic detailed wood and plasterwork on the interior continue to frame remarkable views of Riverside Park.
See
See Inside a Largely Untouched Renaissance Revival Mansion in New York City
By Monique Valeris
Town & Country
July 1,2019
For information on some additional Gilded Age properties in New York City, see below.
Gilded Age home once owned by Macy's owner available for restoration!
As the Macy's iconic store continues its historic association, the former home of Macy's owner - and US ambassador to France, Jesse Isidor Straus - is once again on the market as two separate Upper East side properties in New York City. As they two properties are being sold together, anyone interested in exploring the original Gilded Age splendor of these homes could purchase them both and re-combine them! Steeped in Gilded Age lore, Straus' parents died in the sinking of the Titanic, and as seen in the original post below, the iconic Macy's store in Manhattan continues to draw thousands of visitors each year, including to the annual Thanksgiving Macy's Day Parade!
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For $43M, restore two Gilded Age Upper East Side co-ops to their historic grandeur
By Michelle Cohen
6sqft.com
December 11, 2018
ORIGINAL POST (November 23, 2017): The Gilded Age in the United States generally referred to the post-Civil War period from the 1870s to the turn of the 20th century, when vast industrial fortunes led to lavish lifestyles for those relatively families. Newport, Rhode Island came to be seen as the most fashionable resort for many wealthy industrialists, with such “summer cottages” as The Breakers, Marble House, Rosecliff, The Elms, and others. Eventually, as Henry Flagler extended the railroad down the Atlantic coast of Florida, St. Augustine became a winter destination with the opening in 1888 of the Ponce de Leon Hotel (now Flagler College), before the winter resorts farther south at Palm Beach, Miami Beach, and the Florida Keys became popular.
The US economy during this period not only produced vast industrial fortunes; it also led to rapid wage growth for workers (the highest wage growth in the nation’s history) as well as significant economic inequality. Taken together, larger cities gained growing populations of people with disposable income. One effect of this can be measured by the rise of department stores from the mid-19th century on.
In New York City, stores such as the Marble Palace on Broadway (1846) were followed by the establishment of stores whose names are still known today, including Macy’s and Lord & Taylor. Department stores were designed to provide for the increasingly luxurious lifestyles for their predominantly female clientele. By the 1880s, the retail shopping district relocated uptown to an area that became known as “Ladies’ Mile,” eventually settling on Fifth Avenue, near where numerous Gilded Age mansions also were constructed.
Most of Manhattan’s Gilded Age mansions have been demolished, but the flagship stores of these iconic department and luxury stores remain, and these historic buildings contribute heavily to the bottom lines of these companies. Lord & Taylor’s flagship store (built 1914) at Fifth Avenue and 38th Streets, recently was sold to WeWork, a new economy business that caters to start-up ventures. Although Lord & Taylor’s will continue to operate out of the building, they will no longer own the historic space. Other companies on New York’s famed Fifth Avenue shopping district have embraced their historic flagship stores.
Bergdorf Goodman was originally started by Herman Bergdorf in 1899 as a tailor shop near Union Square. In 1901, he partnered with merchant Edwin Goodman and the renamed Bergdorf Goodman moved to a location on 32nd Street near “Ladies Mile.” In 1914, the store relocated to Fifth Avenue where Rockefeller Center now stands. And in 1928, the company relocated again, building its current store on Fifth Avenue, on the former site of Cornelius Vanderbilt mansion. The Beaux Arts flagship store has undergone several renovations, the most recent in 2015.
The flagship store of Cartier jewelers occupies the original Cartier mansion on Fifth Avenue at 52nd Street. The extravagant townhouse was built in 1905 for another owner but was acquired by Pierre Cartier in 1917. The mansion recently was subjected to a thorough 2 ½- year renovation that embraced and updated its historic architecture, reopening in 2016 to rave reviews (see here and here).
Tiffany’s moved from its Union Square home (built 1870) to a location on Fifth Avenue at 36th Street in 1906. The company moved to its current Fifth Avenue location at 57th Street in 1940. The company is not only famous for its jewels—it solidified its place in American pop culture with a starring role in a 1961 film starring Audrey Hepburn. The company has embraced this role with the addition of a café to its flagship store so now anyone can enjoy “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
Macy’s was founded in Haverhill, Massachusetts in the mid-19th century but moved to New York City in 1858. Its original New York location was at the corner of 14th Street and 6th Avenue, but moved to its new location on Broadway Avenue at 34th Street (Herald Square) in 1904, expanding over the years to occupy nearly the entire block. (The photo above showing Macy's Herald Square store in 1907 is in the public domain). The flagship store underwent extensive renovations 2012-2015 for $400 million, even keeping the famous wooden elevators. The Palladian façade is familiar to anyone who has watched the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, sponsored by Macy’s since 1924. Today, Macy’s historic and more modern buildings are now worth more than the company’s market value!
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Grand Buildings Help Keep Macy’s Afloat
By Michael Corkery The New York Times
November 23, 2017